Drowning The Hero In Love
by Kairaita
Summary: A simple mission turns out to cause more trouble than expected, and the team is left to play a painful waiting game for Gray. Sappy team friendship.
1. Chapter 1

_~Drowning The Hero In Love~_

_It's harder being the one taken care of rather than the one taking care of, as Gray finds out._

* * *

**Chapter One**

* * *

The mission was simple: to take out yet another minor dark guild that had been terrorizing a small town nearby.

It wasn't anything that they hadn't done before. As per usual, Natsu and Gray were itching for a proper fight while Erza was reticent, yet reminding the team of their duty to the guild. Lucy was highly reluctant at first; more than the supposed danger level labeled on the mission, the prospect of seeing her friends demolish both the dark guild and the surrounding property as they were in the habit of doing was even more terrifying, but the promising reward of 400,000 jewels swayed her into grudging agreement. Anything to pay the rent, after all, and Lucy pointedly ignored Happy's snide accusation of her being a miser. It was being _realistic_ about one's own financial situation, okay?

They proceeded without incident to the site of the mission, save for Natsu's routine motion sickness on the train. The dark guild members had built themselves an underground base and modeled it into a labyrinth of sorts, with elaborate passages twisting every which way in order confuse would-be intruders. However, Natsu's proficient sense of smell led his teammates steadily to the center of the maze, easily kicking the asses of minor members along the way, and they found the master of the dark guild waiting there.

He was a thin, mustached man with a sadistic gleam in his eyes. "Oh ho," he sneered, raising two fingers to his lips and whistling shrilly. Multitudes of people appeared from seemingly nowhere, enclosing Natsu's group in a circle to keep them from reaching their master. "You did pretty well to get all the way here, eh? But you'll never win against this many of my members."

"As if!" Pounding a flame-covered fist into his other hand, Natsu readied himself and gave a cocky grin. "We already found out all the shit you guys've been up to 'til now, and we're gonna kick all your asses just the same."

"Aye!" Happy agreed cheerfully, a look of determination on his face and his wings spread out in anticipation of flight. As a Fairy Tail mage, he knew that he had a part to play in this fight as well, regardless of how large his role was. Anything was enough, as long as it was with Natsu.

Scarlet hair flared wildly as Erza requipped into one of her many combat armors with a flash, pointing her sword at the offending dark guild members. "What you have done to the nearby town and countless others is unforgivable. Prepare yourselves, because you will get no mercy from the likes of us."

"Open, Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!" Lucy called, slashing her golden key through the air and watching as her Celestial Spirit appeared protectively in front of her, metal tail curved and ready for action. "If you don't mind, Scorpio!"

"We are!" Scorpio replied cheerfully, extending his hands in his signature gesture. "No problem, Lucy-san! Let's keep this short and sweet, yeah? I promised to take Aquarius on a date today."

At this, Lucy paled. "A-ah, yes, let's finish this as fast as we can so I don't get drowned for keeping you here…"

"We are!"

"Let's do this thing!"

"Aye sir!"

With a burst of flames, a flurry of feathers, a sliver of silver, a tornado of sand, and a whip in hand, they charged forward as one.

* * *

"Guaaaah!"

The pained shout of the last remaining dark guild member resounded as Natsu kicked him into the stone wall, where he landed on the floor and lay there groaning quietly. Around them all, the other members were lying around the four of them in varying states of unconsciousness and disarray. Now it was only the master who was still standing.

"That all you got?" Natsu asked confidently, wiping blood from a minor cut on his lip. A lucky punch had found its way through his defenses once. "It didn't even count as a warm-up."

Faint beads of sweat rolled down the master's neck. The man was trembling slightly, the sadistic edge in his eyes completely gone. "I-I may have underestimated you mages a bit," he admitted shakily.

The corners of his lips suddenly curved upward in a maniacal smirk.

"My apologies. I should have said that you will never leave here alive."

"What?"

That moment, it was too late.

"Got you."

_Ba-dum._

"What's going on?!" Lucy suddenly cried out in alarmed confusion. "Scorpio!" Her hand was reaching out to her rapidly dissolving spirit, an identical look of shock on his face, and only swiped through empty air and the remnants of golden sparkles. Scorpio's gate had been forcibly closed for some unfathomable reason.

"W-wah!" Happy flailed in midair as his wings suddenly vanished from his back, and he fell into Natsu's outstretched arms.

"A magic technique?" Erza gasped as the perimeter of the large room they were in flashed a sickly shade of purple, and a visible barrier suddenly covered a good amount of area in the center of the room, bathing the four of them in the violet glow. An armor-covered hand extended to touch the wall of the barrier, pulling back sharply as her fingertips touched something solid and sent a shock up her arm at the same time, leaving a numbing sensation. Gritting her teeth, Erza glared, mentally berating herself for not having seen the obvious trap sooner. Now they were paying the price.

"What did you do?!" Natsu shouted furiously, pounding on the barrier wall without care for the electrical shocks spurting around him.

"It took time for me to implement this," the man replied smoothly. "You could say that I made a little bet. If you had managed to defeat my members or get to me before I finished, it would have been all over. But, well, I suppose luck was on my side this time, since it appears that I've won."

Snarling in frustration, Natsu suddenly thought back to the fight. The man hadn't even attacked with the rest of his members, and indeed, barely moved around in the first place. The entire fight had been a set-up to buy time, a distraction in order to trap them.

And they had fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.

"Three dogs of an abhorrent legal guild, and their flying pet cat." The man's eyes roved around, coming to a rest on the red, blue, and pink insignias stamped over various parts of their bodies. "My my, Fairy Tail dogs, at that. This is indeed my lucky day."

"Why don't I ever count…?" Happy mumbled despondently.

"Yes, I've heard all about the strength of Salamander and Titania," the man continued. "Vanishing for seven years and reappearing suddenly. I think this will serve as a nice little warning to the Magic Council, don't you? Capturing such fearsome opponents… Our guild will gain even greater notoriety."

At his sobering words, a jolt of realization shot through Lucy and Erza's minds.

_He mentioned only the three of us and Happy… Don't tell me that this guy…_

_He doesn't know about Gray yet!_

They still had a chance.

The plan for the mission had been outlined by Erza beforehand. While it was true that according to the records, the dark guild members were nothing special, the sheer number of them possibly milling about in the base might wear them down. In order to effectively take the entire organization down with minimal effort, Erza had decided to split up.

She, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were to be the main force, causing as much destruction to the dark guild as they could and finding the master, if possible. They had beaten up a fair number of members by now, although it was hard to say whether they had gotten them all. But it hadn't been their real objective.

Gray was entrusted with searching for documented evidence of the dark guild's wrongdoings while they caused a commotion with the fighting. Sending Natsu was out of the question; the Fire Dragon Slayer couldn't be stealthy enough even if you promised to tell him where Igneel was (and even then, that fact was likely to make Natsu even more fired up). Lucy would have been ideal, being the most intelligent of the team, but Erza worried about the younger girl possibly panicking under pressure if she was discovered. Happy was small and could easily crawl into narrow spaces to search, but he had little to no combat ability by himself. And Erza knew she could not leave the rest of her team if there was a chance they would encounter the master.

That left Gray, who was mostly level-headed as long as Natsu wasn't within range, and his ice magic would be useful in silencing any witnesses.

_Our diversionary tactic is still in place,_ Erza thought, narrowing her eyes at the dark guild master on the other side of the barrier. _We can work around this, as long as-_

Unfortunately, while Erza was calmly analyzing the situation, the same could not be said for the person next to her. At Erza's side, Natsu was grinning widely.

"Ha, you really are an idiot!" he exclaimed loudly. "Three of us? You didn't count Happy, and you didn't even notice someone else who's really annoying running around your place this whol-mmphf!"

"Idiot! Who's the idiot here?!" Lucy gasped, slapping a hand to Natsu's mouth in a hurry. "Why did you say that? Stop talking already!"

Erza sighed in exasperation.

The man blanched, an ugly look crossing his face. "Another stray dog roaming around, you say? Four of you… My, I can't have that now."

Happy's tiny shoulders drooped even more. "He didn't count me again, Natsu…"

"Fufu… No matter," the man scoffed, turning away from the trapped mages. "Whether there are three dogs or four, I'll put you all down just the same. Reinforcements will be here shortly to dispose of our little problem."

His snake-like eyes flickered back at the barrier briefly, appraising the people inside. The intensity of his gaze made Lucy shudder, but Natsu glared right back.

"It's unfortunate, really," muttered the man. "Such beautiful girls… Perhaps it would be better selling all of you off. The cat would attract attention as a spectacle in a shop somewhere, and the rest of you would be well-suited to slaving away for someone else. I know a few people who would be quite interested in paying a hefty sum for you lot, oh ho. Goodness knows I need the money to help make reparations to the members and the base that you've so kindly trashed."

"You despicable piece of scum…!" Erza hissed in disgust, clenching her hand into a fist with a quiet _clank_ as the gauntlet parts on her hand meshed together. The man only smirked rudely again, the oily smile making Erza feel slightly ill.

"Now now, there's no need for language like that. All you need to do is sit quietly. When you wake up, rest assured that you'll be on your way in a carriage to the slave market. Please stay still."

Suddenly raising a hand, a small light emitted from the man's palm as he cast a spell, sharply piercing the wall of the barrier before any of them could react. The moment the spell made contact, the barrier began to shine.

Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Happy stiffened, cautiously waiting for whatever reaction was about to happen. But suddenly, an intense feeling of drowsiness swept through all of them at the same time.

"What is… this…?" Her legs weakening, Lucy fell onto the hard stone ground, followed shortly by Happy. Erza was forced to one knee, breathing heavily, before she collapsed onto her side as well.

"You bastard…" Natsu snarled, desperately trying to keep his eyelids open as they grew heavier and heavier, and struggled to raise himself up from the ground with his elbows. "What… the hell did you do…?!"

The man simply laughed. "Well, the barrier itself only lasts a certain period of time, actually."

His voice was becoming increasingly distant.

Natsu could feel his body shaking with the effort of keeping himself awake. _No! I can't fall asleep here, not now! _And yet, he could vaguely feel himself hitting the floor, although strangely, there was no pain from the impact.

"…keep you people… sleep…"

_Damn… it. I can't…!_

The tips of the man's shoes were all Natsu could see as his field of vision narrowed more and more.

And then, Natsu wasn't seeing much of anything anymore.

"…Even though I'm telling you all this, I suppose there's no point if there's no one to hear."

Sweeping a wide look over the barrier, at the mages deeply sleeping like the dead, the man shrugged his shoulders and strode away.

"Good night. I wish you all the best dreams."

* * *

The silence was getting to him. Cupping a hand to his ear, Gray frowned.

Earlier, the sound of his friends rampaging up and down the base could be heard even where he was, as clearly as if he were right next to them. But all of a sudden, the noise had abruptly ceased. Had they finished taking out all the enemies already?

It wouldn't be surprising, given Natsu and Erza's presence, although Lucy was no doubt doing her best as well. Still, it didn't seem like _quite_ enough time for them to finish, even with their power.

Oh well, it wasn't like it really mattered. He had finished up on his end anyway. It had been surprisingly difficult to find the hidden room where files upon files of dusty, yellowing papers were stacked up, involving the need to actually exit the main base and follow a trail to a deserted house on the outskirts of the nearby town. A trapdoor in the house led to what seemed like a different section of the dark guild's underground base, closed off from the main entrance. It made Gray wonder just how large the base was. The complexity of the structure and how far it extended was a little disturbing.

_With his nose, the flame-brain probably would've found the trail faster than I did. There's no way the idiot could stay quiet enough to work alone like this though, ha._

Finding the storage room of documents was enough. Gray had sorted through the most important looking ones, grimacing at the malicious records of deeds the dark guild had accomplished, and especially at their future plans. They had planned to assimilate other, even more minor dark guilds under their wing, creating a large network of guild alliances. Although this mission was supposedly an easy one, it was good that he and his team had managed to stop these people before everything would get out of hand in the future.

_Man, what a nasty piece of work. _

Standing up, Gray stretched to ease his cramping shoulders and spine. Sitting in a dusty room like this and reading through boring folders wasn't his style, but arguing with Erza would only lead to a concussion. He spotted his shirt hanging off the edge of a shelf and blinked in mild surprise. When had he stripped again?

_If Erza and the others are done, maybe I should go help with the cleanup. Waiting here's more boring than watching paint dry. _It would probably be hard for them to find him anyway, now that Gray thought about it. He was so far removed from where they probably were that only Natsu's nose was likely to lead to him.

It suddenly struck Gray just how _long_ things had been quiet, and the fact sent a small shiver up his spine that had nothing to do with cold. This wasn't normal. Strange that a lack of explosions was what worried him most.

…No, not worried. They could take care of themselves.

"I thought all you pansy fairies got caught already."

A guttural voice from the entrance of the room shocked the ice mage from his thoughts.

"You guys were way too smart for your own good. Finding our secret room like this… Hehe, too bad we'll have to kill you now."

Gray turned around.

Standing there was a large man with an unshaven face. His beady eyes were fixed on Gray, and dusty hands were rubbing together gleefully. In essence, he was the very picture of a stereotypical bad guy of a dark guild, the kind that usually went down with a single punch. But an uneasy feeling from his words caused Gray to tense.

His expression stayed carefully neutral though, and Gray made a noise of contempt. "Sorry, dying's not on my plans today." Drawing back, he pressed a fist to his other open hand, readying himself in a stance to use magic. "If you're smart, you'll tell me what you're talking about when you said 'getting caught'. There's no way they would've lost to a bunch of weaklings like you."

Despite the threat, the large man laughed at the look on Gray's face. "It's just like I said, dumbass. We caught them, and it's only you left. Everything's over."

"…I see. What did you do to my friends?"

The temperature in the room was beginning to drop sharply.

Another laugh. "Oh no, we didn't kill them, if that's what you're thinking. Getting to prance around with such beautiful girls… You fairies piss me off. The master's gonna sell them off, and we're gonna get loaded with cash. It's too bad we can't keep them to ourselves."

A flood of anger surged through Gray, and he glared icily at the man. "Telling me this was a bad idea, you know? You don't even deserve to look at our princesses, asshole."

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" the man sneered, raising a hand. "I'll get rid of y-"

At the very same moment that magic began to gather in the other man's hand, a line of ice rapidly shot forward in a straight line from Gray's hands without a word, covering the man's feet in ice.

"Wha-?!"

In less than a second, the man's whole body was encased entirely in gleaming blue ice.

"…Ah, whoops, force of habit. It got you to shut up though. The ashtray would've had you screaming about burns, so this is way quieter."

Whether the man was aware at all anymore, it was hard to say. But it was fairly clear that his defeat had been determined.

Striding purposefully out the door of the room, Gray grinned brightly at the goofy appearance of the man frozen in such a position as he passed.

"Enjoy your time in jail, old man. Maybe they'll fix that ugly mug of yours in there."

He had a mission to finish.

* * *

**A/N:** Firstly, I should say that the original concept of this story is not mine. It's from a Japanese site I found, and the author's name is Hagino, as far as I can tell. I liked their story a lot and I had an idea for something similar already, so I simply kind of combined and expanded on the original story a bit. I think it's safe to say that most of the credit for this story should go to them, although as a disclaimer, pretty much everything belongs to Mashima.

Sorry for those waiting for an update to _Parallel Days_! It's been quite a bit harder than I thought to write the next chapter. I know what I want to write, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to link scenes together. I'll try to get an update in before the year ends though, so please be patient.

This story's probably going to be really short, maybe three to four chapters of this length with quicker updates, so nothing on the scale of _Parallel Days_ even, and hopefully it's enjoyable to those who like Gray (like me, haha), and those who like sappy, fluffy, friendship stories, which this will turn into. Anyway, please enjoy Gray getting the spotlight and being the hero for once, since I feel he doesn't get as much credit in the manga as I'd like. His fight with Rufus was amazing though.

…My author's notes are always so long.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

* * *

It was suspiciously quiet.

Although he had called for reinforcements quite some time ago, no one had appeared.

"_Ha, you really are an idiot! Three of us? You didn't even notice someone else who's really annoying running around your place this whole time!"_

The pink-haired Salamander's words resounded in the mind of the dark guild's master, and he ground his teeth in irritation. The thought of another intruder traipsing around his guild was infuriating. How was it possible that a lowly Fairy Tail dog had given them all the slip? Unless…

The group of people here had simply been a diversion all this time. Shooting a dirty look at the immobile heap of mages within the barrier, the man crossed his arms.

_Tch, reinforcements are taking too long to get here. Useless lazy sods! Can't count on them for anything! That barrier won't last forever, and neither will the sleep magic. There's no chance of getting them to the market like this, and it's too dangerous to just leave them here._

The man made up his mind. Turning around, he stomped back over to the barrier and raised his palms, pressing on the barrier wall. Being the caster of the spell, there was no chance of the electrical shocks affecting him.

"It's a shame, but I'll just have to kill you all myself," the man spat. "I suppose this is satisfying in its own way though, after the mess you've made."

Disposing of Salamander, Titania, and two other dogs from Fairy Tail, even if one was a cat, all in one fell swoop. He could hardly ask for more than that. No matter how skilled these mages were, they were all helplessly incapacitated by his powerful sleep magic.

"Goodbye, Fairy Tail dogs."

"Man, what a pain," a voice suddenly echoed through the room.

The man's eyes widened in surprise, and he whirled around.

"Who's there?!"

"I guess you'd be what we call the 'final boss', huh? Funny, you're not much to look at."

Chilly mist wafted into the large, circular room. There was a small flash of blue light, and a short ramp seemingly made of ice materialized from an opening high up in the wall. No sooner had the end of the ramp made contact with the stone floor, a person slid smoothly down its length, dispelling the ramp afterward with a casual hand gesture.

Minor scratches and bruises were sprinkled over his upper body, which was shirtless for some reason, and he was panting slightly, but otherwise the intruder appeared to be perfectly fine and intact.

The master's lips curled in disgust upon seeing the infuriatingly recognizable symbol stamped in dark blue on the right side of the intruder's chest. "You. You're the last of the Fairy Tail dogs roaming around my guild. How did you get in here without meeting any of my forces on the way?"

_This is bad. The Jutsu Shiki barrier took up too much of my magic. I'll have to kill him quickly._

Gray laughed carelessly, leveling a confident smirk at the other man. "Without meeting any of your forces? You mean the guys who went down faster than they could blink? No really, they were a breeze to go through, and I'm pretty sure I got them all."

"Cheeky, upstart brat!" the man shrieked, almost entirely losing any semblance of stability he had in the first place. "There's no way in hell you could have wiped out all my elite forces by yourself!"

It had only been an hour since the dark guild master had called his reinforcements, knowing that the vast majority of them would have to navigate through the labyrinth of a base for security purposes. And yet this impudent child had the nerve to claim that he had demolished his men in that span of time without so much as a single noise?

"Oh, but I did."

"You bastard…"

"Who's the bastard, now?" Gray asked coolly, taking a single step forward, and the man could only step back instinctively, nearly tripping over his own feet. "Doing horrible things to that town nearby and a ton of other people…"

Another step forward.

"Reaching out to other dark guilds to try and make an alliance…"

And another.

"Resorting to a cheap trick like a rune barrier when you find out there's no way you can win…"

And another.

"Planning to sell off my _friends_ like they're some sort of objects you can just use and throw away… I know about everything."

The man's back slammed into the solid wall of the barrier, effectively cutting off his retreat, and he had never before in his life felt so small.

Synchronized crackling sounds reverberated throughout the room from Gray's clenched fists from which white trails of mist were ominously rising, appearing to cast the rest of the room into shadow and illuminate the figure it swirled around. Dark blue eyes coldly pierced the other man's unflinchingly, reflecting contempt, anger, determination, and most of all, a surging protectiveness for the unconscious group of people huddled behind the violet barrier.

"You've made me angry, understand?"

The hard gaze felt like ice stabbing into the man's chest, and the freezing fear sank in.

_Here he comes…_

"Ice Make: Lance!"

His legs finally responded, and as Gray slammed his hands together, sending long streaks of sharp ice forward, the dark guild master clumsily flung himself to the side. No sooner had the man barely rolled out of the way, an enormous ice hammer was falling above his head. The lance attack that had been avoided stopped just short of striking the barrier ahead, instead crumbling to pieces as if the caster was reluctant to test its strength in fear of hitting who was inside.

_A molding magic user of ice?! This precision and speed… Unbelievable._

The man dived out of the way of the hammer and yelped in alarm as the aftershock of the hammer impacting with the ground threw him forward. Another flash, and the man could only scramble to his feet and run again when shards of ice reminiscent of arrows immediately rained down on him, flinching as they made tears in his clothes and skin.

"You're a quick little bastard, aren't you?" Gray called from where he had been standing. The ice mage hadn't moved an inch from his initial position. "You can't keep running forever though."

Having not been allowed a single counterattack or a moment's carelessness from the speed of the attacks, the man gasped for breath, forcing out a humorless laugh. "An Ice Make mage… I see. I suppose this is how you defeated my subordinates so silently." A taunting smirk curled the edges of his lips. "A feat worthy of an assassination job, I'd say. Is that what you did to them?"

The reaction was instantaneous. Fury erupted in Gray's eyes at the words and he slammed his hands together again, even more quickly than before.

"Don't bring us down to the level of a dark guild like you!" he hissed, stalking forward. "A Fairy Tail mage would never take someone's life!"

"Argh!"

Pillars of ice spurted up from all over the ground, breaking up the stone tiles, spreading around the walls and scaffolding, hemming the man in. The crackling sounds of the ice were like sharp reports of gunfire as Gray's magic swept across the many pillars of the room, leaving them glittering and frozen.

Seeing no options left, the man frantically sprang up into the air in an attempt to escape the cold creeping up his limbs. But a wave of panic washed through the man as from the corner of his eye, he saw the ice mage aiming an immense blue cannon directly at him.

_Damn! I can't dodge in midair-!_

"_Ice Cannon!_"

Blue light momentarily gathered at one end of the cannon's barrel before it shot out at an incredible speed, exploding in a powerful burst of coldness as it hit the dark guild master. He flew backwards and was slammed into the wall with a harsh _thud_, tumbling to the ground along with several large pieces of broken rock.

* * *

"Oi, old man. Hurry up and take down the barrier."

Overlooking the figure that was currently collapsed against the far wall of the room, Gray crossed his arms over his bare chest and tapped his foot impatiently.

The man's head lolled against the wall, apparently unable to move and barely remaining conscious on top of that. Nevertheless, a bitter chuckle escaped his lips. "Take it down… you say?" he rasped. "There's no need for that. It will vanish on its own… once I am unconscious."

"Hm?"

The chuckle evolved to a full-out laugh as the man painstakingly lifted his head up to meet Gray's confused gaze.

"Luckily… There's a special bonus I've added to this magic, just for you and your friends…"

"A bonus?"

"If the barrier is removed… without the willing consent of the caster…" the man continued, "those pillars in the center of the room over there will be forcibly broken."

Gray's eyes snapped wide open in alarm. "What are you…" He spun around, staring back towards the barrier.

His first thoughts when he had originally entered the room were that the barrier had been constructed around a few thick pillars that supported the ceiling, much larger than the ones that were lined up against the wall and currently frozen. Glancing at where the wall of the barrier joined with the ceiling and the tops of the pillars, Gray could see that the barrier had actually been fused into the pillars. The removal of one of the elements would trigger the collapse of the other two.

A growing sense of trepidation rose.

"This huge underground labyrinth of a base…" the man suddenly spoke again, snickering. "What do you think will happen if this one room collapses so sudden- ugh!"

The dark guild master's head slammed back into the wall as Gray suddenly stood in front of him, lifting the man by the collar of his shirt.

"Cut the crap, idiot! Do you have any idea what you're talking about?!" Gray shouted, pulling the man up. "If this place comes crashing on our heads, you guys would be dead too! Not just us! _Take that barrier down right now!_"

"Aha…" the man's voice grew fainter, yet a smug grin still twisted his face. "You think that matters to me? That I fear something like that? Better… to have taken you Fairy Tail dogs down with us… than suffer this… humiliation." And suddenly, the man's neck fell forward limply; he was completely unconscious.

At that moment, the violet barrier dissipated with a thrum, and there was a deep rumbling sound in the earth as the pillars began to tremble, shaking the underground base to its foundations.

"Tch!"

Gray hurriedly released the man, who slumped to the ground gracelessly, and sprinted to the center of the room. He skidded to a stop at the pillars and dropped to his knees by the sleeping forms of his friends. "Hey, you guys! Wake up!" he shouted while grabbing Natsu, who was the closest person, by the shoulders and shaking him violently. "Natsu! Lucy! Erza? Happy?! _Wake up!_"

None of them showed any signs of stirring, evidence of just how powerful the sleep magic cast on them had been. Their eyes were still closed and their chests moved up and down lightly as they breathed, oblivious to the crisis that was occurring.

"Damn it!"

Meanwhile, the pillars continued to collapse, bits of stone and dirt crumbling down from the ceiling. The entire base was vibrating. And then as if mocking the precious, diminishing seconds that they had left to escape, the pillars broke completely in half down the middle with an earsplitting _crack_ and began to slide sideways.

"Shit… Don't underestimate molding magic!" Gray snarled, desperation very nearly cracking his own voice. Without a second to spare, he pushed himself to his feet and frantically slammed both hands onto the side of one of the rapidly disintegrating pillars, focusing the entirety of his remaining magical power into a single point.

He couldn't – he _wouldn't_ let anyone die, especially like this. Not his friends, not even his enemies.

Firing a quick glare at the dark guild master who had fainted in the back of the room, Gray then turned his gaze downwards, over the _still_ sleeping forms of his friends. As if from far away, a part of his mind that was prone to distraction briefly wondered how they were able to sleep through all the noise: the continued fracturing of stone, the roaring rumble of the earth, the sharp crackling that preceded the use of his magic.

The corners of Gray's mouth twitched upward into a strange, rueful smile of exasperation as clouds of icy mist cascaded from his hands.

"Stupid, pulling this sort of shit… I should just throw all your asses in jail myself. Ice Make-!"

At that moment-

A frigid torrent of magical power exploded, filling the room with a blindingly blue light.

* * *

"…-tsu, wake…"

"…wake up…"

"Natsu, wake up!"

There was a heavy impact to his cheek that knocked his head sideways, and Natsu's eyes flew open. Sitting back, Erza released her tight grip on Natsu's shoulder, sighing in relief. "You're finally awake."

Feeling slightly dazed, Natsu raised a hand up to feel the throbbing spot on his cheek where Erza had hit him. With her armor on, at that. Then the situation sank in and Natsu scrambled up. "Erza! The enemies! What happe-… huh?"

Suddenly noticing the mist drifting around and the oddly cool air, Natsu shivered slightly. "Why's it so cold?"

He looked up reflexively.

"Eh? What's that?"

The ceiling, the pillars, it was all beautifully frozen in a ridiculously thick layer of ice. The ice coating spread to the edges of the walls as well, dripping down and giving a glittering, cave-like effect to the entire room. And not to mention the temperature was considerably lower than when they had initially entered the room to fight the dark guild master. Why was there so much ice?

"This… Isn't this Gray's?!"

"Damn right it is, stupid flame-brain. How the hell did you get caught from a cheap trick like that?"

Natsu spun around at the familiar voice. Standing there and leaning heavily against the frozen pillars was Gray, an expression of sour irritation on his face. The Fire Dragon Slayer opened his mouth to retort heatedly, but the ice mage cut him off.

"You. Put that nose of yours to work," Gray instructed, pointing at Natsu. "We should hurry up and find the rest of dark guild members still running around so they don't do anything to that room I found. That's what we were trying to get in the first place, right? And we still gotta arrest that crapload of people who aren't running any time soon."

"Hah?" A vein pulsed in his forehead, and Natsu stomped towards Gray with a glower. "And who said you could go orderin' me around like that?" He was suddenly stopped by a vice-like grip on his shoulder once again and the chilling sensation of Erza's glare on his back.

"Natsu, Gray's right. We should finish this mission as quickly as possible. Gray, hurry and wake Lucy and Happy up."

"Sure."

"…Fine, whatever."

Natsu turned away, unable to stand the sight of the smug grin he was sure would be on Gray's face. He was only agreeing because Erza's decision was peremptory, of course!

* * *

Relying on Natsu's nose to recover the remnants of the dark guild, the now fully awake team trekked casually through the base, hearing few sounds but the echo of their own footsteps.

"You really did a number on the place," Lucy commented in wonder, tilting her head upward. Piles of ice dotted the ceiling in a seemingly random pattern, even this far away from the center room where the pillars had been frozen.

"Man, what's with your aim?" Natsu asked scathingly, glancing backwards towards Gray, who was lagging behind somewhat. "You missed that often? At those small fries?"

"Shut up." Gray scowled. "It was just in case."

"Huh? Of what?"

"…Nothing."

As the team continued on, they came across more and more dark guild members, most of them unconscious. The ones that weren't hastily surrendered at hearing that their master had been defeated. About half of them were soaked completely in ice that they could have been taken as frozen sculptures. Lucy and Happy cheered at the sight; Gray's intervention had allowed them to complete the mission this easily.

Meanwhile, Gray was unexpectedly quiet. Natsu thought this was somewhat strange; shouldn't his rival be trying to rub in the fact that he had taken down the guild almost singlehandedly while the rest of them had been forced to sleep? On top of that, Gray's face seemed pale for some reason, but Natsu chalked it up to a trick of the dim light.

…_What's this weird feeling?_

Perhaps it was a feeling of dissatisfaction that he hadn't gotten to beat the guild master himself properly? It did feel somewhat anticlimactic he had been knocked out by the stupid guild master's trap and that the frost bastard had had to rescue their collective asses. Natsu scrunched his eyebrows in annoyance; Gray was going to hold it over his head for at least a week.

He exhaled, letting out a puff of air with a _whoosh_.

* * *

"Haaa, we're outta that place at last!"

"Aye!"

Blinking in the late afternoon sun, Natsu and Lucy stretched, savoring the fresh air as they made their way out of the underground base. Happy looped around in the air, relishing the chance to fly properly in an open area.

"If we didn't have Gray with us, we'd definitely have gotten in a lot of trouble," Lucy said gratefully. The words of the dark guild master about selling them off made her shudder again at the memory, and she quickly pushed them out of her mind.

Erza smiled gently. "That's certainly the case. At any rate, well done, Gray. It's no easy feat to have defeated so many of the members and even the guild master on your own."

"Ha!" Natsu folded his arms behind his head. "I could've taken that guy and his cronies by myself too, easy! It was just the stupid barrier and the stupid sleep spell. …Hey, ice pervert?"

Natsu glanced backwards at the strange lack of a sarcastic response from Gray, as did Erza and Lucy upon hearing the Dragon Slayer's puzzled tone.

With a frown, Natsu noticed that Gray had imperceptibly been lagging further and further behind.

Now, his feet had stopped moving completely.

"Oi, Gra-…"

Almost casually, Gray suddenly staggered, beginning to sway back and forth, and Natsu's eyes widened.

"Hey!"

It was as if they were watching in slow motion as Gray pitched forward, crumpling to the ground with a deceptively soft _thud _that was a hundred times louder than it should have been.

And for a moment, the world seemed to stop.

.

.

.

"_Gray!_"

Lucy's distressed cry shattered the air, rousing them from their trance.

"Gray!" Erza sprinted to the collapsed ice mage's side, kneeling down and lifting his head up gingerly. If Gray had seemed pale before, his face was now positively white, drained of color almost like snow. Gray's eyes were closed, his breathing was shallow and uneven, and he wasn't moving. "This is…" Erza murmured in alarm, trailing off.

Natsu and Lucy rushed forward wildly, staring down at their friend. "What's going on?!" Natsu shouted, looking to Erza and back and doing his utmost to prevent a prickle of fear from creeping into a corner of his mind.

Ripping the gauntlet from her right hand off and tossing it to the side, Erza reached over and let her bare fingers drift down to press gently against the side of Gray's neck for his pulse. Her eyes narrowed in frustration as she pressed harder, feeling the wavering and irregular pounding. "…Magic power deficiency," she said at last, withdrawing her hand reluctantly. "That's the only possible explanation I can think of right now. This is bad."

"Like what happened to Wendy once?!" Lucy exclaimed, covering her mouth. "Why?!"

Even accounting for the dark guild master and the number of members Gray had defeated while in the base, it didn't seem like nearly enough to bring him to this condition, to run out of magic just like that.

At that time, Natsu's sharp ears suddenly caught the faint rumbling of earth. "What…?" he breathed, turning his head from side to side to look for the source.

From under their feet, there was a baritone cracking sound, as if something had been broken. Deep underground, it seemed like something extremely unpleasant was happening, and the strange feeling from before pushed its way to the forefront of Natsu's thoughts.

_The underground base… No way, is it collapsing?!_

Instantly grasping the situation, Natsu called out, "You guys! That dark guild's hideout is falling apart! This whole place is going to cave in!"

"What did you say?!" Erza gasped, wide-eyed, and looked down at the ground. Without giving a single care, Natsu grabbed Gray and flung him unceremoniously over his shoulders, taking a step forward.

"Hurry up!" Natsu shouted agitatedly, wincing as he heard another crack within the earth. He was sure of it now, even if Erza, Lucy, and Happy still couldn't sense anything.

But Natsu's instincts were very rarely wrong, especially during a time like this. They screamed a warning to his senses that there was danger here.

Erza quickly got to her feet, followed by Lucy and Happy, and the entire team bolted, aiming to get as far away from the entrance to the underground base as possible.

It wasn't a moment too soon, as they reached the outskirts of the nearby town and looked back. With a terrible sound like the roar of thunder and a mighty force rocking the ground under their feet, the dark guild's base was swallowed into the earth.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you for the reviews! I really appreciate it, and they make me very happy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well, even more than the last, since there was more action. It was fun to write as well. And to answer a question in one review, there won't be any OCs beyond the nameless fodder the team got to beat up since I kind of dislike OCs on principle. I hope that doesn't put you off from continuing to read.

And thank you again to everyone who's reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

* * *

There was an annoying beeping sound in his left ear.

In the chaotic mess of his sleep-muddled thoughts, he wondered if he had forgotten to turn his alarm clock off. But the continuous high-pitched tone was decidedly different from the sound that he was used to, and he couldn't quite muster up the will to investigate.

More than anything, he really wanted to go back to sleep. Now that he was awake though, with coherence returning every moment, he became conscious of several other strange things.

First, it was oddly warm. Normally, he hated anything overly hot, but this sort of warmth was surprisingly comfortable. Second, there were strange, soft sounds of air moving back and forth. Third-

Actually, there wasn't a third, but he decided it was high time that he found out what the hell was going on.

With an effort, Gray opened his eyes slowly, and the first thing that jumped into view was a white ceiling.

He blinked once to focus, since his eyesight seemed unusually blurry, and turned his head. He was in some empty room he didn't recognize, patterned with wallpaper that was an ugly shade of yellow, and lying on some sort of simple white bed that most definitely wasn't his own. Something tugged at his left arm, and Gray turned the other way to see a line attached from his arm to a white machine that was apparently emitting the beeping noise he had heard earlier.

Based on all the clues, Gray vaguely concluded that he was in a hospital.

…Why?

Awareness surged into his mind all at once.

Why was he in the hospital?

What was going on, exactly?

He tried to push himself up to get a better look at the room and was surprised when his arms cooperated only sluggishly, folding under the effort. Failing that, Gray let his head fall back against the pillow, closing his eyes briefly in an attempt to ward off the sudden dizzying sensation of vertigo. Now that he thought of it, he felt sore all over for some reason, and light-headed on top of that. Not a fun combination.

Gray opened his eyes again when it seemed like the world had finally stopped tilting from side to side, looked downwards, and noticed the situation for the first time. Strange, how had he not seen them before?

"What are you guys doing here…?" Gray muttered in puzzlement, grimacing at the rough hoarseness of his voice, as if it hadn't been used in days.

On his right, Lucy was sitting in a chair, but her arms were resting on the edge of the bed, pillowing her head as she slept deeply from the looks of it. Strands of blond hair fluttered up and down in front of Lucy's face as she gently breathed in and out.

Next to Lucy, Erza was sitting on the floor without her armor, her back against the bed. He couldn't see her face, but judging from the lack of movement, Erza was surprisingly asleep as well.

On his left, Natsu was leaning against the nearby wall in an uncharacteristically calm way, arms crossed, unmoving. Soft, even breaths could be heard as the Dragon Slayer seemingly slept standing up. Speaking of Happy, who was never far from Natsu if he could help it, the blue cat was curled up at Gray's bedside.

"Seriously…" Gray murmured once more, quietly. "What're you guys doing?" He attempted to sit up again, hissing as his body protested vehemently against the action, and managed to at least raise himself to a sitting position. But he was trembling slightly now, Gray realized, fighting the urge for gravity to pull him back down, and his breaths were coming out raggedly in short, sharp spurts from the exertion.

Pathetic. He really did look like an idiot here, being hospitalized while everyone else seemed perfectly fine. Although, this fact meant that he had managed to protect them. A small feeling of satisfaction crept through the exhaustion, intensifying as Gray glanced at his friends. But really, these idiots…

"…You're up."

"Huh?!"

He would deny it later, but Gray jumped upon hearing the curt words, jerking around so quickly that he winced at the suddenness. Was he really so out of it that he had been unaware of Natsu being awake, staring at him in a decidedly intent way?

Gray cleared his throat, supremely irritated at being caught off-guard. "I guess. What happe-"

A rustle of movement cut him off; Gray turned his head to see Lucy stir, sitting up with a sleepy mumble. Beside her, the back of Erza's head jolted up, and Titania abruptly swiveled to face the bedridden ice mage, who ironically shivered at Erza's frigid and highly displeased expression.

"Gray. You're awake."

"U-Uh, yeah-"

"Gray!" He reeled back as Lucy leaned closely into his face, examining him very critically with all traces of sleepiness gone. "Thank goodness! How are you feeling?"

"Ah, um, fine, I thin-"

"You're sure? You went all wobbly and just fell down!" Happy's frantic chirp. "We were super worried!"

"O-oh, really…"

A cold sweat broke out on the back of Gray's neck as he found himself subject to the stares of four different people(?) of varying intensities, and he couldn't decide on whose eyes to meet, or conversely, _not_ to meet.

...

A completely awkward air. It felt painful to breathe.

"…I'm sorry?"

Giving into a sudden pressure, the extremely uncomfortable silence was broken as Gray's offer of an apology hesitantly slipped out, although he wasn't quite sure what he was apologizing for in the first place.

It was the wrong thing to say.

At that, Lucy's eyes glowed with a strange and very frightening rage. Not good, Gray thought apprehensively, but it was too late to escape her wrath.

"_What's with that questioning tone of yours?!"_

Blow after blow lightly rained down on Gray with a rush of air, and he winced every time the edge of Lucy's open palm impacted with his head. "Ow- Lucy, stop-"

"You're an idiot! An _idiot! _Do you hear me?!"

"Hey, ow! Yeah, I hear you, tell me-" To little effect, Gray attempted to cover his head while asking for an explanation in order to stop Lucy from continually hitting him. "Stop it – tell me what happened, jeez!"

"What happened?" Natsu suddenly snarled, glaring ferociously. "You're the only one we should be asking! You almost went and took a dirt nap, that's what!"

"A dirt nap?" Gray repeated incredulously, trying to process the euphemism, and finally managed to restrain Lucy's hands, although it was more due to the fact that all the anger seemed to have drained out of her. She sat back resentfully, arms tightly wrapped around her knees. "…Oh. I guess that'd explain being in here," Gray muttered, still somewhat miffed at his situation. "I seriously don't remember anything after… I think it was just after we got out of the hideout."

"Is that so?" At his words, Erza arched an eyebrow. "As it turns out, you collapsed due to magic power deficiency. You remember what happened to Wendy once, don't you?" she asked meaningfully, and Gray grimaced at the implied accusation. "Immediately after that, the hideout began to cave in, and we all barely managed to escape in time."

"Oh… That's good."

"And then after that, we sent Lucy to capture anyone from the dark guild who might have still been able to escape, as well as to report the incident to the authorities. Meanwhile, Natsu and I rushed you to the hospital at once."

The ice mage felt his face burn at the businesslike tone in Erza's summary, and ducked his head down to hide the fact. It really was entirely too humiliating. "Thanks, I guess," he muttered reluctantly.

...

The silence hurt.

"You complete moron!" Gray snapped his head up as Erza suddenly shouted, cringing at the harsh rebuke. "If we had gotten you here just a little later, you would've been _dead! _As it is, we're lucky you've only been unconscious for three days!"

"Wait, reall-"

The scarlet-haired woman viciously cut him off again. "An underground base that enormous," Erza continued ominously, growing increasingly incensed. Gray swore he could almost see flames beginning to rise up behind her. "Did you seriously not realize the consequences of supporting it with so much magic?!"

She was of course, referring to the frozen pillars and the ceiling.

There had been too much ice just to be left over from traces of combat, so that could only have been intentional. He hadn't seen the need to bring the matter up, and Gray scowled for the first time at what he perceived as condescension. Some gratitude this was, when he had managed to save all their asses.

"…Well yeah, but so what? All you guys would've gotten buried alive if I didn't freeze the whole place. Hell, never mind being buried alive, just straight up crushed."

"That's not the point!" Lucy suddenly cried out again, clenching the loose bed sheets in a tight grip. "What were you thinking, doing something that insane?! You could've _died_, Gray!"

"I wasn't-!" He bolted upright and immediately regretted the sudden action, screwing his eyes shut and taking deep breaths while waiting for the renewed sense of dizziness to pass. "How's it _my_ fault now?" he started again more steadily, casting a sharp glance at Lucy. "Besides, it's not like I was _trying_ to die or anything! What else was I supposed to do back there then? Just let everyone die?!"

"That's not it! We know that _now!_" Natsu roared as he slammed his fists on the edge of the bed, drowning out Gray's voice. "But you're still not gettin' what we're trying to say, ice-brain!"

The automatic retort died before it left his throat and Gray involuntarily widened his eyes as he froze in place. He blinked once. "What?"

"…I think the point is, Gray," Happy piped up then, swishing his white-tipped tail from side to side. "You didn't tell us anything. That's why everyone's mad at you. You should've said something before we got out."

In complete contrast to the seething anger of the other members of the team, the blue cat who was always the most cheerful, as befitting his name, was strangely relaxed as he matter-of-factly explained. And Gray suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

Happy then hopped up, moving closer and settling down on Gray's knee as he looked up reproachfully. "But still, this time, we weren't awake to stop you from using a lot of magic in the first place. And we didn't notice anything until it was too late. So… we're also really sorry."

All of them, excluding Gray for obvious reasons, remembered the swooping sensation of terror when the ice mage had collapsed. The same terror had persisted as they realized that they couldn't do anything in either situations, and Gray had almost, _almost_ died. The feeling of helplessness that Gray had been cornered to do such a thing for their sakes-

It had been so close.

"_Gray! _Gray!_"_

"_We need to get him to the hospital. He could die if we leave him like this."_

"_No! He's not gonna die! Bastard, wake up! We didn't give you permission to die!"_

"_Gray, please… don't go."_

"…What's with you guys? That depressed look doesn't fit."

Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Happy were suddenly snapped from their reverie as Gray spoke. They flinched, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Lucy fidgeted, Erza closed her eyes, and Natsu looked away. Happy glanced back and forth between them, waving his tail nervously.

But even though the mission had resulted in something like this, everyone was safe now. That was the most important thing.

Gray sighed.

That time, those events on Galuna Island from so long ago, it certainly seemed like some sort of criminal record had been written up for him from then on, even though this sort of situation had only happened once. Twice, if they wanted to be technical, but Gray was inclined not to count it, no matter what anyone else said. At any rate, everyone really had made such a big commotion over him, but maybe that was the reason.

"…Right, I get it now." Running a hand tiredly through his black hair, Gray sighed again and looked up into their expectant faces. "I caused a bunch of trouble. But you guys were just worried. I'm sorry too."

So then, was it alright to let the matter drop? To stop arguing about such a silly thing? To just be glad that everyone was okay?

The unspoken questions seemed to be heard nevertheless, and everyone smiled softly in relief at the same time.

"…By the way," Erza said dismissively, raising her hand. "I believe it's been determined that patients should be sleeping quietly."

The atmosphere dissolved back into a state of relaxation that they were familiar with as with a sharp metallic sound, Erza drew a sword from midair, swinging it directly in front of Gray's neck.

With a jolt, Gray scrambled desperately away in abject horror, tilting his head backwards to avoid the extremely pointy tip of the sword. "What the hell, Erza?!" he shouted, frantically trying to make sure his heart didn't stop from the sheer panic.

"No, no, Erza's got the right idea," Lucy said sinisterly, leaning in close again. Gray had forgotten just how terrifying the blonde could be when she felt up to it, just about as scary as Erza. He couldn't stop himself from quivering at her next declaration. "Keep quiet and go to sleep! You were seriously in danger for a while there, all because you're a stupid, reckless, idiot!"

"I get it! I get it! I'm sleeping! Just get that thing away from me!"

But as Gray backed away from the two women who were approaching with matching gleams in their eyes that foreshadowed nothing pleasant, he failed to notice Natsu standing behind him, a mischievous smirk etched on the Dragon Slayer's face.

"You should listen to them. Go to sleep."

"Wha-?!"

At the moment the word left his lips, there was an impact to the back of Gray's neck.

By the time Gray realized that Natsu had hit him with a hand chop, it was too late; he was already careening to the side with his vision rapidly going dark.

"Bastard…! I'm gonna… kick… your…" was all he managed to get out before Natsu caught him and dropped Gray carelessly back onto the pillows.

With that, Natsu turned to Happy and slapped his friend's paw with a high-five. "This should be fine, right?" he said with a bright grin.

"Aye!"

"…What exactly is fine about this?! That's _not_ how you treat someone in the hospital!"

* * *

**A/N:** Wow, has it been that long? Sorry for the wait! I've been really busy lately, and I know this chapter is shorter than the other ones (I'm not too happy with it either, to be honest), but I hope it was still fun to read with all the team fluff in it. The next chapter's the last one, so we're coming to the end very shortly and you'll get to read what happened in those three missing days between Gray's collapse and waking up.

And yes, I've read Rave Master before, although it was only after I got into Fairy Tail, but it was still great. Coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidentally, Musica was my favorite character as well, and I was also disappointed with his lack of a role in the final battle, even though the sword-forging scene before was _almost_ enough to make up for it. A little. I definitely hope the same thing doesn't happen to Gray though.

Eight new reviews just for the last chapter; thank you so much for reading, everyone! The next chapter will definitely be up faster. Thank you again!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** I almost wanted to hold off on uploading this so it would seem like a holiday gift, but I really couldn't wait. Here we go!

* * *

**Chapter Four**

* * *

As Lucy's indignation spilled over, Natsu was subjected to a painful punch on the head from the celestial spirit mage's fist.

Certainly, Gray was now sleeping calmly again, but in no way was knocking him unconscious a treatment for someone who had been hospitalized.

Lucy was so outraged that Happy wisely opted to remain silent, although he couldn't help but mutter, "Lucy was hitting Gray too…" Luckily for the blue cat, Lucy didn't appear to hear him.

Her anger quelled for the time being, Lucy sat back in her chair with a sigh, ignoring Natsu's twitching body on the floor. She looked to the figure in the bed, her eyes softening as she did so, and pulled the loose blankets up slightly. "He's really… only sleeping this time, right?" Lucy asked quietly, glancing almost apprehensively in Erza's direction.

Erza nodded in affirmation. "I believe so, thanks to Natsu." A momentary glare was cast to the Dragon Slayer in question, who squeaked in fear. "I'm… very relieved," the scarlet-haired woman admitted suddenly in a murmur. Her unarmored hand moved tentatively, paused as though she had second thoughts, and then at last reached over to gently brush strands of black hair away from Gray's closed eyes. The ice mage was still somewhat pale, but his complexion was much better than it had been previously.

They could still remember the alarming scene from three days ago with vivid clarity.

* * *

"Gray! _Gray!"_

A distant rumbling could still be heard faintly as the collapse of the dark guild's underground hideout finally began to slow, but that was the very least of Lucy's worries now.

As she ran as quickly as she could to her friend who was still slumped, unmoving, over Natsu's back, Lucy was lost for words at the icy feeling when she laid a hand on Gray's limp arm.

She knew that as an ice mage, Gray's body temperature had always been lower than that of most people. But, as it was now, this was bypassing just chilly and plummeting headlong into dangerous, lethal levels. How was it even possible for someone to be this cold? Unless-

_No._

Somehow appearing composed as always, Erza's concern was nonetheless apparent in tiny signs: a tightened look in the corner of her eyes, a small tremble running through the hand she had shed her gauntlet of, the way her lips were pressed together in a thin line. "We need to get him to the hospital," Erza said at once. "He could die if we leave him like this."

The celestial spirit mage gasped. "Die?" she echoed, reeling. Die? _Die?_ Could Gray actually die, here and now? Out of all the stupid missions they had been on, out of all the dangerous situations their team had always managed to somehow scrape through-

"No! He's not gonna die!"

"N-Natsu?!"

Lucy watched, gripping Gray's cold, _cold, much too cold _hand, as Natsu lowered Gray to the ground more carefully than the blonde would have ever thought possible from the normally destructive Dragon Slayer. But that perception was rapidly shattered as Natsu seized Gray by the shoulders and began to shake him roughly.

"You're not allowed to die!" Natsu shouted frantically, a faint tremor audible in his voice. "Bastard, wake up! We didn't give you permission to die! You don't get to make us owe you by doing something stupid and saving us like that! We won't forgive you if you just give up like this! Wake up! _Wake up!_"

It was as if a roaring flame had been lit in Natsu's eyes, the way they glowed with a burning sort of desperation.

"Natsu!" Erza caught his arm solidly, shaking her head. "Stop. It's no use." She turned to Lucy then, pointing in the direction of the now caved-in base. "Lucy, I need you to go back and assess the situation. Capture anyone you see who might've escaped and report this incident to the authorities. Natsu and I will proceed to the hospital right now."

There was a brief moment where Lucy tried to process Erza's orders, the only awareness being the sharp iciness of Gray's hand in hers and his quiet, shallow breathing, before the words sank in and Lucy nodded immediately.

"…Understood!"

It was no time to stand around.

Steeling herself, Lucy let go of Gray's hand reluctantly, placed one hand on her beloved ring of keys attached to her hip in a holder, and pointed at the group.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. And in the meantime, this idiot is absolutely not allowed to die!"

"Yeah!"

Natsu's vehement, clipped response. With his steady voice echoing at her back, Lucy bolted.

_Gray, please… don't go._

* * *

"He's sleeping now… isn't he."

It wasn't a question.

"Yes…"

Unconscious in the bed, Gray's face was as deathly pale as ever, though his breathing had eased considerably from the ragged spurts earlier. Dark fringes of smooth hair cast uneven shadows over Gray's closed eyes, giving Lucy the impression of a doll.

The harsh contrast between black hair, ashen features, and white sheets was startling.

"…There was nearly no physical injury," Erza stated flatly. "But due to exhaustion from rapid magic depletion, apparently it's something like a state of suspended animation. Or perhaps, it would be better said as almost a coma."

"A coma…" Lucy repeated faintly. She squeezed Happy, who was sitting in her lap, tightly, and it was telling that the blue cat did not protest.

"That is to say," Erza continued, clenching her fist so deeply that her knuckles turned white. "Tonight is the deciding factor." She closed her eyes, and her expression finally crumpled. "…We don't know when Gray will wake up."

The simple words that rang out weighed them all down, the implications crushing them with its staggering strength.

So, those were the facts.

With a solid _thud_ that shook the room, the side of Natsu's fist struck the wall, leaving an indent. A raging flame briefly outpoured from his body, extinguished almost as quickly as it had flared up.

"Tell me, Erza. What the hell did this guy do."

For a long moment, Erza was silent as she contemplated the occurrences on the mission. "…Do you remember," she said finally, "that there were a few large pillars in the center of the room we were in?"

They had heard now, from the dark guild master, that those pillars had been the keystone of their underground base.

"Hold on a sec, those huge things? You don't mean-"

The frozen pillars and the ceiling. As well as what had appeared to be random bits of ice all over the place.

More than the traces used in a battle.

The uneasy sensation from before; Natsu had thought it was strange that there was so much ice concentrated in one area. Gray's ice never lingered for that long without good reason. The ice hadn't just been left over from Gray fighting the dark guild master. It had been holding up the entire base all that time. And the sporadic bursts of ice outside the room: reinforcing important structural points.

How could they not have noticed?

"That's right," Erza confirmed, clearly trying to squeeze the words out. "All that time, Gray was supporting that vast underground maze alone. All that time, when we woke up, when we were searching for the dark guild remnants, and until when we finally reached the surface. On top of that, having to fight through at least half the members… It's no wonder that Gray passed out. That sort of strain is almost unbelievable. He must have not allowed himself to faint in fear of having the hideout collapse on all of us."

Silence filled the air.

"I heard from the local authorities who were investigating later," the scarlet-haired woman suddenly continued. "The cause of those pillars collapsing was the removal of that rune barrier we were trapped in."

In other words.

"That Gray was cornered to do such a thing for us… We couldn't do anything then. And… we can't do anything now. It's our… Our…"

Glancing down, Lucy spotted the way Erza's fist trembled violently, and felt her own eyes begin to water as she realized the reason Erza was so shaken. The feeling of guilt, that as the leader she had failed a member of her team, must have been crushing.

"All I ask… is that he wakes up…"

"Erza…"

"…Don't be an idiot. We're not gonna just mope around."

Breaking the heavy silence suddenly was Natsu's voice, burning with anger. He glared into Lucy and Erza's visibly glistening eyes.

"Ice head here isn't dying on us from something like this! And y'know what? We know what we're supposed to do from here on, don't we? We know what we have to do."

He took a deep breath.

"So to make sure that stupid Gray doesn't pull something like this again, to make sure _none_ of us _ever_ pull something like this again, the only thing we can do is get stronger!"

The earnest words rang through the small room, echoing off the walls and sounding louder than they should have.

At Natsu's fervent declaration, Lucy and Erza's eyes widened.

It was as if something in them had been shocked awake.

"…Yes, that's right," Erza murmured slowly, after a moment of anticipatory silence.

Gray, was certainly not going to die.

And, as Natsu said, if the situation ever called for it, of course from now on they would protect him in another crisis, the same way they would do for each other. But more than that, they would strive to protect each other from another such crisis in the first place.

As one of their own, it was all about the team. They weren't Fairy Tail's strongest team for nothing.

"…Natsu."

"Hm?"

"Forgive me. You're absolutely right. It's just as you say."

"…Yeah."

And once and for all, they did not waver.

* * *

The repetitive beeping sound grated on Lucy's nerves, but she knew that she much preferred it to the alternative of silence.

Sitting in a chair by Gray's bed, a book was open on her lap. As Lucy read the same page five times over, she couldn't help but continually glance up, hoping for some sort of change. There had been none over the course of six hours so far, but it didn't hurt to check, however futile it was.

They had agreed to keep watch in shifts, with Lucy taking the first one while Natsu, Happy, and Erza returned to the village lodgings. In the back of her mind however, Lucy thought that she wouldn't be surprised at all if they ignored the schedule and simply sat together for the entire time.

The blonde flipped a page, squinted at the tiny lines, and gave up, shutting the cover. Even reading couldn't distract her now.

Lucy sat in silence for the time being, fiddling with her hands.

"Gray."

Her own voice startled her, and Lucy jumped. It had come out louder than she expected. "Gray," she repeated, more quietly.

There was no response.

"I wonder… if you can hear me? I read in a book once that people in comatose states are occasionally aware what's going on around them." Lucy moved her chair closer, resting her elbows on the edge of the bed with a sigh. "You know, you're going to have some very angry people to deal with when you wake up. Me included, of course. You're an idiot."

She almost reached out to Gray's hand again, but stopped herself. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know if his hand was still so icy.

"Maybe this'll be the longest time you've spent without stripping." Despite herself, Lucy smiled slightly. "It might… be nice not having to run after you while waving your shirt around."

"…Oh, who am I kidding. I want everything to go back to normal soon. I'll cut you some slack this time, but don't ever think of scaring us like this again."

"I don't know about you, but I think I'd be super bored in bed doing nothing. How about I read this book to you? You're always trying to sneak a peek at my novel, which you're _still_ not allowed to do by the way, but this book is pretty interesting…"

* * *

"My apologies for arriving early, but I- Lucy?"

As Erza slid the door to the room open, her eyes fell onto Lucy's sleeping form in a chair by the bed. A book was open under her head; the girl had presumably fallen asleep while reading it.

With a fond smile, Erza set the gigantic bag of luggage she had brought in the corner of the room, pulling out a blanket. She tossed it over the younger girl's shoulders, then gently tugged the book from Lucy's unresponsive grasp and closed it, setting it aside.

Happy had told her that she was going to wear out a trail in the floor of their rooms if she kept pacing. Taking it as a sign, Erza had decided to return to the hospital in order to abate her anxiety, but she found herself doing the same thing once again, walking back and forth in a straight line with her arms crossed.

The only sounds in the room were the clicking of her footsteps and the steady beeps from the white machine that monitored Gray's vital signs.

In the relative silence, Erza was left to her own thoughts. Something in her chest clenched every time she replayed the moment Gray had fallen outside the hideout. She should have been more attentive. She should have realized it was strange that the pillars had been frozen so thoroughly. She should have taken into account Gray's uncharacteristic silence afterward.

All the things she should have realized came crashing down on her, and Erza squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. What kind of team leader was she, to not notice the condition of one of her closest friends? Gray had always been there, a foundation of stability like the ice he molded, and to think today he had been so close to being gone, just like that-

But these were the exact thoughts Natsu had reprimanded her for having. It was no use to think about what she should have realized. All that mattered was making sure everything would be okay, and that everyone would go home together.

With a sharp glance in the direction of the figure in the bed, Erza spoke.

"You and I will have words when you're awake."

* * *

Natsu and Happy arrived next, with the Dragon Slayer claiming it was boring being by himself and his Exceed when they knew where everyone else was.

(Of course, he would never admit to actually being worried.)

By that time, Lucy had awakened, mumbling an embarrassed apology for falling asleep. She and Erza left briefly then for some space and for what Happy termed as their "secret girl stuff time". He was promptly punched into the wall for his trouble.

"Natsu?" Happy called, after he had recovered somewhat. "Gray's going to wake up, right?"

"'Course he is," Natsu answered without hesitation. "Nothing keeps him down for long. And if Gray doesn't open those droopy eyes of his by the end of three days, max, I'll slap him awake."

"…Such harsh friendship…"

"Hell no it's not! D'you know how hard it is to find a good rival, Happy? I won't have anyone to beat up if Gray keeps napping like this."

"If you say so, Natsu," Happy said doubtfully. He wrapped his tail around Natsu's arm and perched precariously on the pink-haired Dragon Slayer's shoulder, enjoying the constant warmth that his friend always radiated.

Leaning against the wall, Natsu stared down at the bed. Had it been anyone else but Happy, who had been raised by and eaten with and slept with and lived with Natsu for six years, they would have missed just the slightest hint of concern shimmering in his dark eyes.

A split second flashback of the events on Galuna Island.

"Besides," he added suddenly, checking around to make sure the girls hadn't come back, and continued in a more subdued tone. "He made Lucy and Erza almost cry. I gotta kick his ass for that."

"Aye…"

For a long moment, silence reigned, punctuated only with shrill, constant beeping. To Natsu's sharp ears, the sounds were amplified to an irritating level.

"…Happy, you hungry?"

"Not really."

"You sure? I smelled some fish coming from the kitchen. I'd say it's worth checking out. And I bet you'd feel a lot better with your stomach full."

"…Natsu?"

"Huh? What?"

"Nothing. Do you want me to bring you back something too?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though. Go ahead."

"Aye."

The door opened and slid shut quietly.

"…Hurry and wake up, stupid ice bastard."

* * *

And like that, three days painstakingly went by.

* * *

"You know, the three days were a really long time for us. But from how they made it sound, you could say that it only took three days for this guy to wake up. He's already moving around and everything."

Staring gently at Gray's mildly relaxed expression, Lucy frowned.

"Ah, I see what you mean." Erza nodded in agreement. "Still, I believe the orders were two weeks for a complete recovery."

The thing was, if it were left up to Gray, he would want to be discharged immediately having regained just a little magic.

"No way! I totally knocked him out just now. He's definitely not getting up for a while."

"Aye! That's the type of guy Gray is though."

"…Both of you say that like it's a good thing in this case," the celestial spirit mage sighed exasperatedly. "I don't think that means much right now."

But perhaps, that was the right idea, albeit with unnecessarily violent methods.

"Well, in any case, two weeks! Please be prepared!" Lucy pointed in Gray's direction, eyes burning with determination.

With waking up, it appeared that he had already recovered somewhat, but they would absolutely force him to another two weeks of bed rest, whether he liked it or not. This was how the team would take care of their own.

"Two peaceful weeks and not one day sooner, no matter how much he begs!" Lucy continued cheerfully. "We'll make Gray feel like he's drowning in our love!"

"…Lucy, you're saying weird things again."

"Lucy, that's gross."

"Shut up, cat! And I'm trying to be motivating here, Natsu!"

* * *

As it turned out, the entire two weeks were the farthest from peaceful one could get.

That was what Gray thought.

With nothing to do but be confined in the hospital room the entire time, his friends took turns being in constant attendance. But more often than not, all five of them could be found squeezed in the tiny room together. Anyone who knew of the team's infamous reputation for wide-scale destruction would have been horrified at the fact. Although in Gray's opinion, this grew irritating very quickly.

That being said, Gray regretted ever allowing his friends to force their ideas of "care" onto him.

It was very painful. In many ways.

Upon awakening after Natsu's courteous method of putting him to sleep, Gray attempted to argue he was perfectly fine and ready to return to the guild that very moment. Sadly, his claims were rejected unanimously by everyone else, citing the absolute orders of the doctors. When Gray began to complain further, Natsu unceremoniously assaulted him with another hand chop.

It was completely humiliating for the ice mage. In addition, it only served to prove that his reactions were not quite back up to standard conditions yet.

As a result, Gray gave up and decided to spend the two weeks quietly without further objections. Incidentally, before conceding, it took Gray a total of three painful hand chops from Natsu over the two weeks in order to formulate this mindset.

Lucy marveled that he never seemed to learn.

Bitterly resigned to the chaotic situation, the ice mage resentfully swore to pay them all back – especially Natsu – twice over once he was discharged from the hospital.

That was what Gray thought.

* * *

Finally, after far too long, the blissful day came when Gray was released from the hospital and they began to make their way back to the guild.

To the Dragon Slayer walking in front, Gray called his name.

"Natsu."

"Huh?"

The moment that Natsu turned around-

"_Ice Cannon!"_

Gray mercilessly bombarded Natsu with the blast, right on the mark. Natsu yelped loudly in surprise, rolling head over heels across the road, and finally came to a stop while spitting dirt out of his mouth.

The ice mage smirked from ear to ear. "That was for the four times you hit me in the hospital, squinty-eyes!" Gray declared. "I'm paying you exactly twice back."

"Stupid droopy-eyes!" Natsu snarled, several veins popping on his forehead. Unsurprisingly, the thirst for vengeance was not far behind.

And yet at the same time, there was overwhelming relief at seeing Gray completely recovered.

"Take this, ice bastard! _Fire Dragon's Roar!_"

But it was obviously not in Natsu's nature to act sweet. Of course he would immediately fight back without hesitation with Gray's provoked attack, as he always had, and as he always would.

"Ice Make: Shield!"

In the middle of the road, the opposing red and blue magic crashed against each other thunderously.

.

.

.

"…Those guys never learn."

Looking behind over her shoulder at the rapidly escalating brawl, Lucy slumped in displeasure.

"Aye. It's 'cause they haven't fought in so long and they want to get it out of their system," was Happy's response, as he let out a sigh.

"If it goes too far, I will stop them myself." Erza's dismissive comment.

…Although Erza's statement was oddly nonchalant, one could only wonder just how long her thread of patience would hold out this time until it snapped.

A dry smile involuntarily spread across her lips, and Lucy glanced at Gray again.

Clashing enthusiastically against Natsu with the blue glow of his molding magic lighting up his face, it was as if he had a whole new lease on life. The shadow of death that had hovered over Gray as recently as two weeks ago was nowhere in sight.

"Heeey, you two! Stop rampaging around the place! We're the ones who'll have to pay for it, you know!"

Together, gathered under the umbrella of a wide blue sky were the five members of Fairy Tail's strongest team, drenched in sunshine as violent explosions and bright laughter resounded into the wind.

_fin._

_Drowning The Hero In Love._

* * *

**A/N:** It's over! It's actually over! To everyone over the course of these four chapters who reviewed, faved, followed, or even just read this, thank you all so much.

And as I've said, since the original story is actually not mine, just something that I've translated and expanded on from the Japanese author Hagino, I feel it's only fair I put her own author's note as well. I've written out a condensed version below with the relevant details.

_This was a requested story: "The strongest team gets a mission, but Gray has a cold and collapses in the middle of it. Everyone else gets to take care of him."_

…_Not too far along while writing, I couldn't think of an excuse for it._

"_A half-naked man all year round… Getting a cold?!"_

"_I'll have him collapse from lack of magic instead. ^^"_

_My thoughts were roughly something like this. Please note that there is no romance intended in the story. And in addition, the reason that this was so long…_

"_I have many stories about rescuing Gray who got caught, this one will be where Gray gets to help everyone else who got caught instead."_

"_Maybe Gray will get to look super cool and be the hero this time, yeah!"_

"_Okay, let's do this!"_

…_So this story is the result of me trying to cram in all my silly desires, where Gray gets the most active parts. However, I do not regret it at all. (straight face)_

This may not be a hundred percent accurate, as I am by no means a fluent Japanese speaker, but I think the basic meaning is understandable. It's a little amusing, isn't it?

For now, my next focus will be on finishing beta-reading the next chapter of _Once Again, Live_ by Indh13. To those who don't know, it's a Gray-centric multi-chaptered story and I'm sure the author would appreciate it if you showed her support.

I don't want to make this author's note longer than it already is (and it really is longer than it needs to be…), but I was wondering what main project people might be interested in me writing next. I have a list of ideas:

_- The Dream of Sleeping Beauty_ – This would be another translated story by Hagino. Despite the girly sounding title (in my opinion, haha…), this is Gray-centric again and honestly one of the most emotional stories I've ever read. It's not a happy one. It's ten very short chapters and I could probably update quickly.

- A long, multi-chaptered story with no title yet and an actual plot! To no one's surprise, Gray plays a heavy role in it, but it's overall another team friendship story. A working summary of it is that a month away for training turns into a year-long disappearance for Gray. Searching for him, Team Natsu comes across a legend about ice mages, an ice dragon, and something about the weather. Meanwhile, a group of villains surfaces, capturing ice mages across the country, and it's a race against time to find Gray before they do. (…I am very sorry about this pathetic summary. I can't be dramatic to save my life.) This would not be up for a _very_ long time, and if my writing speed is any indication, with very slow updates.

…Overly obsessed with Gray? M-Maybe a little? But again, these are ideas I have rolling around and although there's a chance I might ignore it all and write whatever I want, it'd be nice to see what other people are interested in. Between all of these, it's likely I'll write a variety of oneshots too (I am not ashamed to say a good number of them are Gray-centric).

So to finally sum it all up after much too long, thank you again to everyone who read this story. Until next time!


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